


Colors

by Zoe13



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, side cashton, soulmate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-14 08:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2184984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoe13/pseuds/Zoe13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael sees color and that means one thing- he's fallen in love with the person he's supposed to be with. Except...Luke's seen color since before they met.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Colors

Michael is angry. He's hurt. He's betrayed. He's _in love_ , godammit, and it's not fair. 

He knows how it works- the moment you fall in love with someone, you see color. He's never been sure what color is exactly and it had excited him, inspired him to dye his hair colors he didn't understand, but now he hates it. He hates it because Luke's seen color since before they met.

He sort of wants to throw a tantrum. It would be glorious- a record breaking one probably. Smash a few guitars, break a window. But he needs to think as much like an adult as he can. Which means that he needs a plan. 

Forget Luke, pretend you can't see color.

So he's not that mature. But it's the best way for Luke, in the end. He doesn't know who Luke's soulmate is but he sure as hell knows that Luke can't know he's Michael's. The other boy has always be too kind, too empathetic. He can't tell Calum or Ashton either: they see color because of each other- they're the picture-perfect soulmate couple. They would never understand.

He looks up a color chart and starts memorizing. His eyes aren't green, they're _green_. His hair is _green_ too. His skin is still pretty much just white but his shirt is _red_ instead of red and the blanket beneath him is _blue_. 

Blue. The first color he saw. 

He shakes it off. Luke is his best friend. Luke's already found his soulmate though the boys have no idea who it is. That caused a few fights but they're over it now. 

Calum walks in- _green_ shirt, _black_ pants, _blue_ shoes- and plops next to Michael just as Michael closes te color chart page. 

"I like your shirt," Michael tells him, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

"It's just a plain t-shirt," Calum says, puzzled. And oh. Shit. 

"It's a nice shade of...grey."

"Oh. Thanks, it's green."

"Green?" Michael tries the word out, tasting it for the first time since he found out what it looked like. Calum shoots him a funny look.

"We're leaving for the interview in fifteen minutes. They're gonna fix us up there so don't worry about changing."

 

 

The stylist gives him a _blue_ and _black_ patterned shirt and he's got _red_ shoes. He wonders if he's ever worn _red_ shoes before. He's starting to like _red_ , even though color is a constant reminder of his problem. 

He struggles to treat Luke the same way he always has- he ruffles his hair, says something mean that Luke _finally_ knows to interpret as Michael being affectionate, and even cracks a joke about his long legs. But the whole time he can't help but think _I don't get this. I don't deserve this. Luke has someone else_ , and it's really fucking depressing.

Michael distracts himself by staring at his bright _red_ shoes. 

 

 

"You look put together today," Luke comments. Michael forces a joking scowl.

"Thanks Hemmings. Glad to know I look fantastic normally."

"I was talking about your color choices," Luke rolls his eyes and Michael wants to rip his heart out of his chest when it skips a beat. 

"I think I'm finally figuring out all of the shades of grey," Michael jokes. "All fifty." 

Luke laughs but after that he's silent and withdrawn. Michael almost feels like Luke doesn't have the right to be upset. Unless his soulmate has someone else too. That would totally be their luck. 

Though that would give Michael a chance. And is also completely ridiculous and impossible and _wow, shut up brain._

 

 

The first few concerts are a little overwhelming because _he can see colors_ and the crowds are full of color. He tries to focus on blacks as whites and even neutrals to keep his headaches down. He finally gets used to it.

Luke's eyes were already hard to look away from and now they're _blue_. Michael hopes Luke's soulmate feels that way too because if he's even half as devoted to Luke as Michael is, he'll get Michael's blessing, however heartbroken it may be. So not punk rock. 

Calum surprisingly hasn't caught on that something isn't right and Michael congratulates himself on his potential career as an actor in the future. Maybe he could costar with Brad Pitt. Maybe he'd forget about Luke's eyes. Though Brad Pitt has Angelina Jolie.

Michael feels that his face should be the new _forever alone_ meme.

 

 

He's doing well for a week until he and Calum are sitting in Calum's crowded bunk alone, eating skittles. Michael feels like he's at a preteen girls' slumber party because they're talking about Ashton and Michael's soulmate he supposedly hasn't met yet.  

"Do you think it's a girl or a guy?" Calum asks and Michael shrugs. "Which would you prefer?"

"I think a guy," Michael says, and it's true. Luke's a guy and he prefers Luke to anyone else, just wants LukeLukeLuke. Calum nods and splits up the last few skittles.

"Do you want the lime?" He asks, and Michael still hasn't matched up flavors with colors so he doesn't know.

"I don't know, just give me the yellow- they're my favorite." 

"Okay," Calum says and neither realize what Michael said for a few moments.

Then-

" _What_?!" Shit. 

"What?" Michael repeats, playing stupid. 

"Yellow?!" Calum screeches. 

"Yeah, I figured out the shades of grey-"

"Bullshit," Calum calls him out. "Is it Luke?"

Michael bites his trembling lip and nods. Calum swears again, softly, and Michael fiddles with the ( _green_ ) blanket. 

"Yellow is lemon," Calum says finally. "Green was lime but now it's green apple again. You remember the flavors. Purple is grape of course. And red..."

Michael starts crying.

 

 

Its two and a half weeks before he slips up in front of Ashton. He's stopped hating color and fallen in love with it too. He starts memorizing the different shades, and he's so excited about his hair, about actually seeing the colors, that he changes it. Black with red. 

"Do you like it?" He asks Ashton, and Ashton laughs.

"Yes, I like it." 

Michael mentions the red but he can read, he'd talked about the colors before he could see them because he saw them written on the box and asked Calum about them. 

But he gets carried away and starts talking about the shade and the colors he should do next and suddenly Ashton's looking at him sadly.

"Calum and I talk about it," he says. "You and Luke."

Michael smiled weakly and leaves. It's getting harder.

 

 

Luke notices that Michael's ignoring him and he finally sits down on one of the beds in the hotel room and stares Michael in the eyes. Michael realizes that Luke will find out eventually and panic wells up until he rushes to the bathroom, locking the door before Luke can even protest. All he can see when he closes his eyes is _blue blue blue_. 

When he forces himself to leave the bathroom he finds himself face to face with Luke. Luke whose eyes are full of hurt and his hands holding Michael's color chart. Michael feels a headache coming on.

 _Why?_ Is what he's expecting but instead he hears a "Who?" asked in a hoarse voice. 

"I can't tell you," he says and something inside him is screaming _coward_ at him over and over but this is as much for Luke as it is for him.

" _Michael_..."

Michael blinks quickly, trying to head off the tears. 

"It won't work out, just leave it," he says sharply, and Luke looks relieved and then guilty.

"Do they have someone else?" he asks softly, and Michael wants to scream and rip his hair out.

"Yeah," he chokes instead. He walks around Luke and sits on his bed, trying to think of a way to distract himself. 

"Well they're a fucking idiot," Luke says vehemently, and Michael lets out a hysterical laugh. 

"I'm the idiot," he says. Luke puts down the color chart and sits next to Michael. 

"You are _not_ an idiot," he says. "You joke about it all the time- hell, you wear shirts with it on them- but you're not. I know how you feel." 

"Your soulmate doesn't...?" Michael feels stung by the irony of the whole thing.

"Shortly before I met you I was friends with this girl. We got close and I liked her. A lot."

Michael cringes, wanting sympathy but not from Luke. He doesn't want to hear about his soulmate, whether or not it's reciprocated. 

"I told her," Luke continues. "She told me we hadn't seen color. So I lied. I told her I could see it. She still turned me down and her family moved, but by then everyone had heard. So I spent hours memorizing the shades of grey that were colors. I learned the shade of grey that was a deep red, the shade that was a bright yellow. I managed to tell them apart and people believed me. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone the truth."

"But can you see colors now?" Michael asks, and he's in mental agony for the few seconds it takes Luke to respond.

"Yeah, I can. I met this other guy and after a while I fell for him really hard. I saw colors eventually."

"How does he feel?" Michael asks. _It's not me, it's not me_ ," he chants inwardly. 

"I don't know," Luke says, "how _does_ he feel, Michael?"

 _It's me_?

"What?" Michael gasps. 

"It's you," Luke says. "So when this douchebag turns you down just remember that I- I love you."

Michael struggles to breathe, feeling as if a bucket of cold water has been dumped on him. "Don't- don't call yourself a douchebag," he says, and Luke's eyes widen.

"But it took so long-" he starts. "I thought it wasn't me because it took so long-"

"We all thought you'd met your soulmate already- I guess I just unconsciously tried to delay the inevitable," Michael says. 

" _Green_ ," Luke breathes. 

"What?"

"I started seeing color and- your eyes. I couldn't stop looking at them." 

Luke blushes and Michael grins. 

" _Blue_ ," he says. "I couldn't either."

Luke smiles so wide that Michael wants to feel it. He lifts his hand, lightly touching the corners of Luke's mouth.

Luke grabs his hand in his own.

"I love you," he says. 

"I love you too," Michael replies, and then he kisses him, pressing their lips together and cupping Luke's face with his free hand. 

"I love you more," Luke says finally, pulling back a bit to look Michael in the eyes. 

"Oh god," Michael says. "Shut up and kiss me." 

The fact that Luke happily complies makes all of the colors Michael sees even more beautiful.


End file.
